Dance
by zosimos
Summary: Sceptre of Flamel: Roy and Ed and a bright summer day. Roy/Ed: Happy 520 everyone!


The sunlight was brilliant, cascading over the water in blinding sparkles. The surface of the lake was mostly calm, moving gently, reflecting and refracting the dazzling summer sun. The water broke, off in the distance, as a hawk skimmed the surface of the lake, seeking to catch its lunch from just under the surface.

Edward Elric stood barefoot on the small bit of sandy beach, where gentle waves lapped at his feet. The sun glinted just as blindingly off of his automail, as he wore nothing but the shorts he had slept in. His face was turned up to the sun, already tanned, his golden hair bleached almost white by the summer sun.

Roy Mustang stumbled and nearly dropped the fishing poles that he was carrying. The noise drew Edward's attention, and he glanced over his shoulder at Roy, brow furrowed in worry. "You all right, Mustang?"

Roy licked his lips, thought of a million different responses and settled with "I'm fine."

Summer had hit the mountains last, but when it hit it was with all of the scalding fury of a July sun. Edward had stopped wearing shoes first, and was now down to just wearing shorts to combat the heat. Roy, on the other hand, ever so pale, still wore a shirt and trousers and sweltered for it.

Edward extended his arms forward; one metal and one flesh, and as Roy watched he unfolded his wings.

His feathers were iridescent, shimmering in the sunlight. Edward did not look back at Roy again as he spread his wings, and then with so little effort, shot into the summer sky.

Roy took a deep breath, watching as Edward vanished into the cloudless blue sky, and smiled, then made his way to the water's edge.

It did not take much time to set up the fishing poles. They had done this almost every day since the weather turned warm, living off of fish and the small vegetable garden that Roy had been tending beside their cabin. Roy glanced to the sky several times, shading his eyes and looking for Edward.

Edward adored flying. To no longer be bound by the constraints of gravity, to dance among the clouds and race the birds that flew through the air above them - it was freeing in a way few things would ever be. Roy tested the tension of the lines as he heard a hawk call echo through the trees behind him.

There was little warning until the shadow passed over him. Roy glanced up in alarm as Edward buzzed him, laughing the entire way. "Come on, Mustang!" Edward called, his voice carrying on the breeze. "You're it!"

Roy rubbed his head, squinting after Edward, and then shaking his head in amusement. He shrugged off his shirt and stretched his own arms out.

Roy's wings were not as shimmering bright as Edward's own. They were a mottled color, dark grays mixed with light, and some of the pinion feathers were faded into white. "Redemption," Edward had said, holding one of Roy's shed feathers, twirling it in the sunlight as they lay in bed together, sweat cooling on their bodies. "Samael's wings were black."

It still did not feel as natural to him as it clearly did to Edward, who danced through the air with all the grace that he had when he moved through his martial arts katas, but Roy managed, getting airborn and following Edward into the summer sky.

They could fly freely here, far away from civilization and the fear of discovery. There would be no reports of chimera taken to the air to worry about - just the occasional, rudely startled bird.

It was hard for Edward to teach this, Roy understood now as he chased Edward through the air. Flying was such an intuitively natural thing.

He reached and almost touched Edward before Edward dove, darting away. Roy followed but lost Edward amid the bright, dazzlingly clear water of the lake. Roy squinted, skimming the water, and was in the process of fanning his wings to ascend again when Edward hit him mid back, and they both tumbled in a flurry of feathers into the water.

All the wind was knocked from Roy's lungs as they submerged, Edward's arms around his neck and mouth over Roy's own. Roy opened his eyes under the water and Edward grinned, then pushed him away and swam to the surface.

Roy's wings were waterlogged, and dragging him down. He watched Edward swim, wondering how his automail did not affect him, and then put his wings away and swam after him.

Edward tred water as Roy's head broke the surface gasping, and Edward splashed him with a laugh. "Dunked ya."

Roy tred water alongside him, splashing Edward right back. "I would call that more of a full body tackle, Fullmetal."

Abruptly a shadow passed over Edward's features, and then he grabbed and dunked Roy again, who spluttered under Edward's hands. Roy fought to the surface and by the time he emerged, Edward was already airborn again, water streaming off of his wings.

Roy bobbed uncertainly, and then realized. He had called Edward "Fullmetal." It was almost unconscious, sometimes, but every reminder of the life they had left behind was painful to Edward. Roy might have been made to bear witness to the horror that the demon brought down upon all the people that he knew and loved - but Edward was the victim of the absolute worst of it. Roy slapped the water with his open hands, his anger boiling to rage and simmering down just as quickly. Samael was already dead. He could not hurt them any further.

It was harder getting airborn from the water than Edward ever made it look, but by the time Roy made it to shore Edward still had not returned. He checked the lines, and then sat on one of the large shale rocks that framed the small beach, wings spread out, and waited.

The small burst of wind that accompanied wings of their size announced Edward's arrival. Roy did not open his eyes until he felt Edward sit next to him, leaning against his bare shoulder. Roy lifted his arm and slung it around Edward's shoulders, hugging him close as their wings tangled together behind them.

Together, they watched the sunlight bounce off the water on a bright summer day.


End file.
